Bank Hapoalim to set aside another $75 million in U.S. tax probe

FILE PHOTO: A woman uses an automated teller machine (ATM) outside a Bank Hapoalim branch in Tel Aviv, Israel
Thomson Reuters
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Bank Hapoalim , Israel's largest bank, said on Wednesday it would set aside an additional $75 million to cover a potential settlement in a U.S. investigation of possible tax evasion by the bank's American clients.

This latest amount would bring the total amount provisioned by the bank in the investigation to $343 million, Hapoalim said in a statement.

"The bank estimates that its overall exposure is higher than the amount of the provision it expects to include in its financial reports for 2017 such that the amount it will pay as part of a settlement with the U.S. authorities, if one is reached, will be significantly higher than the provision," it said.